Post navigation

Hi, friends! It’s April 4th today which is the start of The 100 Day Project and I’m super excited (and nervous as hell!) to share how I’m utilizing this creative challenge!

If you’re not familiar with the project, it’s a free, broad, global, creative Instagram challenge that you can interpret however you please. The point is just to commit to using your creativity in some way for 100 days straight, either to strengthen current abilities, learn something new, finish one project, get into a habit, or otherwise explore yourself creatively. There is no one or right way to attack it and there are lots and lots of cool ideas I’m seeing on Instagram, which is where we will be documenting our work every day.

^^^ Art for Day 1: Messing with a logo design. Handlettered, then tweaked in PicMonkey to give it a vintage-y vibe. ^^^

This is the first year I’ve done the project and although I’m quite petrified, I’m also looking forward to it. I’ve had this little blog here (under multiple names) for almost 6 years and have struggled with it. What’s my focus? Do I need to broaden it? Narrow it? Do I have a niche? Is it even interesting enough to write about? Are my posts too long? Too short? Are these the best photos I can use? Not to mention the technical aspects – I’m terribly incompetent with technology and utilizing shortcuts to save time, so every post I’ve done has taken a LOT of effort to produce, especially if I run into a problem. All of this has made it difficult for me to post with any frequency or reliability and that has been a constant source of stress for me over the years. I hate having this blog up and ignoring it like I do deep cleaning the shower! So, I decided to use this 100 day challenge to answer some questions:

What the hell does A Nice Little Life even mean?

Can I produce an original and defined aesthetic for it?

Will people be attracted to that aesthetic?

How can I improve the posts and photos?

Do I really have the desire to keep up with the blog or should I let it go?

When I learned about the 100 Day Project, I knew I wanted to do it and thought I’d use it to concentrate specifically on practicing art. As I continued to think about it, though, I came to the conclusion that it needs to have something to do with the blog. Then it occurred to me that I can explore the questions above and practice art/creativity at the same time, so that’s how I’m attacking the project. In an effort to try to define A Nice Little Life, I’ll be using:

writing – i.e., blog posts of topics that need extra attention or are more complex than what an Instagram caption can convey

photography – for things I can’t draw/paint, are in the moment, and just to practice creating better photos

I’ve already created a list of 100 themes/ideas for what I think A Nice Little Life encompasses – things like simplicity, gratitude, making do, living colorfully – which will be posted every day on Instagram. Some of the themes will be accompanied by a blog post here, but most of them will only be found on Instagram. My hope is that after the 100 days, I’ll have successfully created a certain look & feel to A Nice Little Life (after long last!) which will translate into continuing it, growing it, and attracting readers. Worst case scenario is I decide to finally ditch the blog altogether, but in the process have still tapped into a creativity energy that I can continue to feed. Either way, it’s a win-win!

If you’re an old subscriber, I hope you’ll stick around to watch the transformation – it’ll be a bit of a mystery for both of us! If you’re new here because you found me on Instagram or wherever, welcome!

Good luck to any of you who are also participating in this challenge! Let’s grow, explore & use that right side of our brains!

Love,
Sarah (You can find all 100 posts on IG @sarah_anicelittlelife or #100daysofANiceLittleLife)